


fierce juno’s hate, add to hostile force, shall urge thy fate

by VITRI0L



Series: the branches of time are withering [7]
Category: DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Kinda, Mentioned Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Jack Manifold, Mentioned TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Morally Ambiguous Character, Niki | Nihachu Needs a Hug, Oneshot, Personas not people, Roleplay, Sad Ending, Villain Niki | Nihachu, and she’s not happy, no beta we die like jack manifold, puffy finds out niki & jack’s plan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29011008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VITRI0L/pseuds/VITRI0L
Summary: After the failed attempt to kill Tommy at the nuke site, Niki confronts someone she wasn’t excepting to.•••“I know you’re lying to me,” the lamb hybrid muttered softly.Niki flinched, shifting her weight uncomfortably.•••[title updated from: the road is long but the night is longer]
Relationships: Niki | Nihachu/Cara | CaptainPuffy, ONLY IN REGARDS TO THEIR CHARACTERS IN CANON, i don’t ship them!
Series: the branches of time are withering [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120232
Comments: 22
Kudos: 324





	fierce juno’s hate, add to hostile force, shall urge thy fate

**Author's Note:**

> this makes me sad

Niki wandered down the Prime Path, teeth digging bluntly into the flesh of her bottom lip. The night was cold, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as Snowchester got when the sun slipped below the horizon. 

Hatred flooded all her systems, frustration gnawed at the back of her mind and yet, a kind of hope made her heart soar.

~~(It was not the same kind of hope that she’d grown used to when she saw Wilbur lead L’Manburg. No, it was deeper and darker, twisting and burying itself into the young woman’s weary bones. She didn’t care enough to notice this, however.)~~

Jack’s plan gave Niki hope.

_“What if... we asked Techno to do the job for us?”_

Hope that they wouldn’t go unnoticed or be belittled ever again.

Niki practically ran past Tommy’s base, reaching the stairs down to L’Targay quickly. She did not look over at the dirt mound, too tired to deal with the kind of emotion that it might bring on.

 _Tommy will pay for the things he’s done_ , she thought, the words placating her racing mind. _He will._

The pink haired woman ducked under the gently squirming blood vines that seemed to occupy the little square more and more.

Not that it was any of her concern.

“Niki,” a familiar voice said.

It pulled said woman from her thoughts. She blinked in surprise, a warm smile dancing carefully across her face.

“Hey, Puffy,” she said back, voice rough from arguing with Tommy and subsequently, after their plan failed, Jack.

Her fiancé did not smile back. In fact, she didn’t look even slightly happy to see her partner. Puffy’s curly white hair fell haphazardly over her shoulders, the gentle wind brushing some of it into her face. Her warm eyes were cold and her lamb-like ears twitched every so often, a trait that Niki knew happened out of annoyance or frustration.

Something was wrong.

“Puffy, are you alright,” Niki asked gently, allowing genuine feeling ~~(besides anger)~~ into her tone for the first time today.

“Where were you today?” the other replied and it was laced with suspicion.

A small needle of guilt pricked her heart as the pink haired woman tried a small laugh. She rather not lie to Puffy but her lover couldn’t know either.

“I was with Jack and Tubbo, they invited me to see the nuke test.”

It was a half truth.

But it wasn’t good enough for the older.

Puffy frowned and something flashed behind her eyes, heavy and mysterious. Niki might have recognized it as disappointment, but she wasn’t look hard enough.

~~(She was. She saw it and she wished she hadn’t.)~~

“Really? And it was just you three?”

_Shit._

“Yeah, of course. It was just for the residents of Snowchester,” Niki said, forcing an amicable tone. 

Puffy sighed.

It looked like the weight of the world had dropped onto her shoulders.

And the prick of guilt turned into a stab.

“I know you’re lying to me,” the lamb hybrid muttered softly.

Niki flinched, shifting her weight uncomfortably. Oh how she wanted to flee this situation, to pretend like this confrontation had never begun. She was hoping that Puffy wouldn’t intervene, leave her to her own plans.

Clearly not.

“Really? And what would I be lying about?” Niki shot back, careful not to implicate herself with a poor choice of words.

“I know that you took Tommy to go ‘get spruce wood’ and that you took him much father than Snowchester.”

Niki frowned, frustration swelling in her mind.

“What the hell are you on about? No I didn’t,” she snapped, all precautions of being kind suddenly gone.

Puffy laughed humourously, cold and tired eyes looking deep into her own.

“I’m not fucking blind, Niki,” the older woman started, “I know that you don’t like Tommy. You practically hate him. You weren’t even supposed to be at that nuke site, you’re not in Snowchester! So, I’m going to give you one chance to tell me the truth. What were you doing taking Tommy so close to such a dangerous site?”

Niki felt her patience slip right from her fatigued hands. 

She let it.

Anger was all too familiar of an emotion now, the pink haired woman could feel it bubbling up in her stomach and burning her nerves.

Niki practically growled.

“Tommy’s going to pay for the things he’s done,” she said in a low tone laced with venom and dripping with poison.

Puffy’s response was immediate.

“He’s just a kid!”

Her voice was piercing, nearly catching the younger off guard. Her shoulders were held up, tense and her eyes, once cold, were now alive with something made of a heat that Niki couldn’t quite place.

The surprise wore off fast.

“So? That means he shouldn’t be held accountable for the things he’s done? He’s a criminal,” Niki replied loudly.

“Do you really think that killing a child is teaching him a lesson?!” Puffy shot back, “You don’t think that L’Manburg blowing up wasn’t a lesson enough? Or Tommy being exiled by Tubbo? That’s not enough for you?”

The younger scowled, the action twisting the muscles unnaturally. 

_Why was I naïve enough to think she’d understand,_ Niki thought bitterly.

“You don’t get it. Puffy, Tommy is as much as an adult as anyone else! You don’t know the mind of things he’s done! You don’t know how it _feels_ to be around someone like that! HE’S A MONSTER!”

An accusatory finger was suddenly point straight at the pink haired woman. Puffy was now much closer and much more furious.

“I DO KNOW HOW IT FEELS! I’M DREAM’S FATHER!”

Her hand falls back to her side, fists balled furiously and tears swimming in her saddened eyes.

The admission shocked Niki into silence. Everything seems to freeze, deadly silent as Puffy wiped a few offending tears from her round cheeks with a pallid hand.

“I know what it’s like to love someone who’s done horrible things. _Unforgivable_ things, even,” the white haired hybrid began, voice shaking, “As... as hard as it is to see him locked in prison— it’s for the best... I don’t agree with the things that my duckling has done... but I hope— I hope to forgive him, in due time. I **still** love him, Niki.”

Puffy took a shaky breath.

“You act like my son and Tommy are the same person. They aren’t. Not even _close._ Tommy’s been through so much... some of it at the hands of my son... but that’s why I’m offer him my patience.”

The silence became suffocating.

“What do you mean by that,” Niki whispered, fear and embarrassment creating a lump in her throat.

Puffy sighed, eyes looking to the darkened sky. She would have looked so... exhausted... if it weren’t for that small spark in her irises.

“Tommy’s been through wars, constant battles to keep the things he holds dear, betrayals, explosions, exile and _**everything**_ in between... so, I remind myself that whenever he comes by. Or when he breaks my mushroom house.”

She gestured to the house just off the path to Niki’s right. A small hole was visible in the red semidome.

“He’s had it rough and of course that’s not an excuse but— I see Tommy for what he is. A _teenager_.”

And Puffy finally turned her gaze back to the pink haired woman that she used to call a lover.

And Niki tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it doesn’t budge.

Guilt threatened to drowned her.

“Puffy—“

“Leave,” Puffy interrupted, voice soft and sad, “Leave, Niki.”

Two woman stand opposed to each other in the middle of the night.

One wore full netherite, glittering with a haunting purple.

One wore nothing but her pirate outfit.

Tears run down the hybrid woman’s face as she turned away, stepping into the cool grass beside them.

Niki couldn’t find her voice to call her lover back.

She was left alone.

There was an itch in the back of her skull. 

_You’re trying to kill Wil’s brother,_ a small voice told her.

The night was cold.

Her wail was even colder.

Full of sorrow.

Of pain.

Of loss.

They’d all lost too much.

And yet they continued to turn on each other, unable to look past their own needs and wants.

They were broken.

Corrupted.

Selfish.

_Oh god._

Niki was sure she’d die from the storm that swept through her body, destroying everything in its path and leaving nothing but a numb pain behind.

The night was cold as the pink haired woman cried into her shaky hands upon the cold and wooden road.

Because she couldn’t recognize herself.

**Author's Note:**

> if i got anything wrong, any of the character’s relationships wrong, correct me in the comments. honestly, the family tree of the SMP is just as wild as the lore at this point, i can’t keep up.
> 
> i hope you all are well <3
> 
> stay safe and goodnight!


End file.
